Direct Weather-related Fatalities and Injuries in Wisconsin for 2010

For the most part, Wisconsin residents came out pretty good with low numbers of directly-related fatalities and injuries due to weather hazards in 2010. Considering that we had 46 tornadoes, more than twice the normal number in a year, and we had some serious flash flooding situations, it could have been worse.

Collectively, there were only 5 directly-related weather fatalities, and 48 people who were injured. Here is a complete breakdown by category:

2010 Wisconsin Weather Event

Fatalities

Injuries

Tornado

0

22

Severe Thunderstorm Winds

0

16

Large Hail

0

0

Wildfire

1

0

Lightning

0

3

Heat/Excessive Heat

0

0

Flood/Flash Flooding

1

1

Non-tstm High Wind

0

2

Non-tstm Strong Wind

1

4

Cold/Wind Chill

1

0

Winter Storm/Blizzard/Ice Storm

1

0

Total

5

48

In the 2010 bean-count department, the table below shows the breakdown for the four traditional severe weather events The percentages are similar to those in previous years, plus or minus a couple points.

Note: historically in Wisconsin, thousands of people are killed or injured each year in vehicle accidents during or after winter storms, blizzards, ice storms, or even when just some light snow or light rain occurred. It is common knowledge that a good number of these accidents are due to “driving too fast for road conditions.” Nearly all of these fatalities and injuries are considered “indirectly-related” to weather events, and do not appear in the table above.

A related "2010 Wisconsin Top Weather Events" story can be found in our Top News Archive. Here is the specific link.